The Plot
This is a spin-off of the Hit legal drama series, the Practice. But boston legal has its focus more on civilian law and less on criminal law.
Ethically-challenged attorney Alan Shore, settles in at a wealthy and powerful firm focusing on civil cases. With some help from his friend and mentor, veteran attorney Denny Crane, Shore quickly makes his mark winning cases no one would take, often using less than honest methods. In doing so, he develops a rival in his colleague Brad Chase, who has been assigned to the office partly to keep an eye on the increasingly eccentric (and possibly senile) Denny Crane. Though his questionable conduct might make him a few enemies along the way, Alan's not one to be underestimated, nor will he let trivial things like honesty or integrity get in the way of winning a case.
Read the full review after the jump...
The Good
BOSTON LEGAL is one of the very few smart shows on TV that conveys a lot of important factual information through wonderfully told stories and does it with brilliant humor - all at the same time. David Kelley is a TV genius - no surprise to read he went to Princeton and Boston U Law School and that he was an attorney - in Boston. No wonder the whole thing seems so authentic. The guy who created the show actually knows what he's writing about.
There's a lot of garbage on television these days, such as the supposed reality shows. I admit, some of them are pretty good, but the majority of those shows are just a waste of our time. We don't even have to mention the soap operas. In all this grunge there is a bright spot, Boston legal, which is in my opinion, one of the best shows on T.V. The show expertly blends the intelligent wit of Alan Shore(James Spader) and the comical antics of Denny Crane(William Shatner). A lot of what you see on T.V. is just dumb humor, and I'm not opposed to that, but it's nice to have a smart show like this. Because this program is so good I rarely miss an episode, and if I do I feel empty unfulfilled for the entire week.
So what's the deal here? The DEAL, friend reader, is James Spader and William Shatner, their chemistry, their superb acting skills, the way they plug into and feed off of each other with increasingly effortless skill and almost revolutionary invention. There's ALWAYS something new to see, ALWAYS. And when you drop them into the slot with the lesser cast members, they get them going, too, pushing them into areas they might never have gone into otherwise.
I have never laughed so much and it is thanks to the actors and writers who pull off the material. Who ever came up with having a double act of William Shatner (Denny Crane) and James Spader (Alan Shore) hit gold and one of the main reasons I love the show so much is the interaction between them especially at the end of the episode when they are on the balcony, smoking cigars and drinking. The relationship at times can be very touching and I like the fact that these two heterosexual men love one another as it hasn't been shown on any other series. They are complete opposites in their views and yet they get on so well.
What I also like particularly about William Shatner's character is that he is not like the perfect lawyers you see on TV who says and does all the right things and is a goody-two shoes character. Crane is flawed because he doesn't always say the right things, he can sometimes look like he doesn't know what he is doing and his views can sometimes be racist, sexist or controversial to other people but he isn't an evil person, he just doesn't think before he speaks. He just believes in saying what's on his mind and not being bogged down with political correctness like most people.
The other characters help the show to be one of the best on Television. The cast includes Mark Valley (Brad Chase), Julie Bowen (Denise Bauer), Candice Bergen (Shirley Schmidt) and Rene Auberjonois (Paul Lewiston). Click here for the entire cast.
The writers are just brilliant, they come up with so many good one liners and they can go from humour to drama very easily but they are sensitive with the way they portray the subject matter.
The Bad
It starts out with, unquestionably, the cheesiest television score I've heard, it is just clowny and really really annoying. The whole quasi-documentary approach with hand-held cameras wracking focus out of nowhere, is beyond passé. When you believe the audience needs jerky camera movements to provide impetus in a series, that's a worrisome vote of no-contest from the executive office. Some of the cast, as well, is just bland window dressing. I speak primarily of Mark Valley, who lately, has made a much needed burlesque out of his woodenness, but before that was as much a doorstop as anything else. Nor do I like the women on the show. They're heavy-handed and unconvincing; for the most part, 60's soap opera actors. Candice Bergen doesn't seem to know what she's there for. They hand her character new situations, even a lurid past, and she marches through her scenes like a Victorian schoolmarm.
Additionally, there's the writing, which, if not continually top notch, is at least trippy and fascinating. But "Boston Legal" needs to be less of a sequel (to "The Practice", if you weren't aware) and more of a daring original. It needs some tightening, because once you remove the cheese factor (and sadly, it's probably too late for that, now), you've got something really brilliant and it needs to be better than the sum of it's parts.
The Point is : ( Rating | 8/10 )
A show about the law and lawyers is generally centered around words. This show is no exception, but what it does with words is the icing on and in the cake. It weaves a special kind of magic with its words, whether in the courtroom, the meeting room, the personal office, or any of the many unexpected locations the show may take the viewer. It also doesn't matter if the show is being funny or dramatic, whether it's a matter of law that's being discussed or an inter-firm affair. The writing of the show is excellent, spoken and demonstrated by relentless, exceptional, subtly (though not always) self-aware actors. The show's magic is to keep the viewer suspended in an area where people are both truly good and bad, where feelings are strong but can be turned upside down by a turning phrase, and where political incorrectness and even borderline misogynist (as one of many strange, perhaps "racy" issues) attitudes can win the day (even in a sexual harassment case). I for one look forward to the unexpected places this show can take us, the words that will be spoken, and the characters that will be speaking. Congrats to Spader, Shatner, the writers, and everyone else involved with the show.
For me, the height of the show are the conversations over whiskey and cigars between Denny Crane (Shatner) and Alan Shore (James Spader) where the pair trade philosophical observations over what has just happened, and are uncommonly revealing about their own quirky inner thoughts.
I don't always agree with the conclusions made by the show (it can be a little preachy at times), but this is one of the best written shows on TV. It has very smart dialog, usually has a dramatic theme, but is still willing to have fun and make fun of itself from time-to-time. It definitely makes me think and even better it makes me laugh!
Normally when we talk about home theaters, we imagine the setting would be like this - A 42 inch plasma television, or a really big HDTV, sometimes even a home movie projector, the latest surround sound audio setup, and the requisite comfy seating. This is what most people who love movies do.
But Steve Jenkins is not most people. He describes himself as your average movie buff, but what he has done does not fall in the realm of 'average'. He has converted his basement into a Home theater - in a literal sense. He has built it into an actual movie theater. Complete with all the BIG screen and a thumping audio system that draws you in, the setting, the decor, the really comfortable seating, and even a snack bar for god's sake.
Even Audio Video Interiors, the industry's leading electronic home entertainment magazine has featured his dream project in their magazine. Get the Article!
Steve quotes "I envisioned a Golden Era movie palace in the "Grand European meets Las Vegas" style, with red velvet curtains, massive marble columns, gold moldings and trim, a domed-sky ceiling with stars twinkling, multi-level seating, and of course, a snack bar. Some people prefer simple, tasteful, and functional rooms with little to distract visitors. And while I can certainly respect that, it's not what I wanted for this room. Simple, tasteful, and functional is perfect for the parts of a house where you eat, sleep, work, talk with your family, etc. For a room where the sole purpose is entertainment, however, I wanted the entertainment to start before the lights dim. I wanted a room where I could escape - where I'd almost forget I was in my house."
You can tell for sure that the months of time, energy and hard work, not to mention, the money invested has really paid off. Steve Jenkins is the proud owner of a Home Theater that is like no other on this planet.
View the gallery of the whole project, from beginning to completion.
-end of post-
This is an article by Home Theater Enthusiast Steve Jenkins.
When I first starting enjoying the home theater experience, I noticed that my family and I frequented public movie theaters less and less. Now, we almost never go to public theaters - and when we do, I really miss being at home.
So I thought it would be fun to create a list of Reasons Why I No Longer Go To Public Movie Theaters to help those of you who are interested in building your own home theater (usually guys) convince anyone standing in your way why a home theater is a good thing.
So here it is, here are the reasons I no longer go to public movie theaters:
1. You show up 45 minutes early to find the perfect seat in the center of the theater, and someone taller than you shows up 5 minutes before the opening credits and sits right in front of you. If you're really unlucky, he's wearing a huge hat or he/she has a hairdo that blocks half of your line of sight to the screen.
2. The guy who shows up late looking for a seat in the dark and then asks you to move over one seat so he and his girlfriend can sit in your row - knocking you one seat away from the surround sound sweet spot.
3. The noisy girl right behind you who keeps asking her boyfriend "What's gonna happen next?". Sometimes, noisy girl keeps talking about things as important as 'What her friend said about her seating arrangements when SHE came with HER boyfriend'.
4. The noisy guy right behind you who keeps announcing what's going to happen next - even if he's not asked by his noisy girlfriend. Or the noisy guy who finds the movie theater, of all places to be romantic. Or maybe he is just in the mood for some groping.
5. The kid sitting one row in front of you who orders a sugar-high glazed donut with chocolate, lots of it, and it starts "kicking in" about half an hour into the movie.
6. The guy near the front of the theater who uses a camcorder to make a bootleg/pirated tape and keeps the bright back-lit viewscreen wide open.
7. Noisy teenagers who laugh, talk, whistle or make other noises at inappropriate points of the movie.
8. Grown men who assault the aforementioned teenagers instead of talking to the manager and/or asking for his money back.
9. Kids who sit behind you and kick the back of your seat.
10. Parents who let their kids kick the seat in front of them, and then who give you that "how dare you talk to my kid ?" look when you ask their kid to stop.
11. People who remain standing during the previews.
12. People who talk during the establishing shot (first few moments) of the movie.
13. People who ignore the "please turn off your cell phone" message during the previews and who think that bending over while taking a call will somehow magically render their conversation imperceptible to everyone else in the theater. This is even more annoying if they've added blinking lights to their phone's battery, case, keypad, etc.
14. What used to be enjoyable previews are now replaced by 30 minutes of commercials - which you can get at home.
15. The movie soundtrack sounds vastly inferior to a good home theater audio setup.
16. You can't adjust the volume in a public theater.
17. If you have to go to the bathroom at a public theater, they won't press PAUSE and wait until you return.
18. The guy who comes back from the bathroom and then wants to know (in graphic detail) what he missed, and then gets mad at his girlfriend for not being able to remember.
19. Unregulated 'I came first' gouging at the food counters.
20. The other line at the food counter always moves faster.
21. That awful sound your shoes make as you walk across a sticky floor.
22. The people in front of you who barely see 5 minutes of the movie because their faces are stuck together the entire time.
23. Public movie theater seats are nowhere near as comfortable as home theater seats - especially if you have leather recliners.
24. The awkward battle over who gets to use the shared arm rest.
25. While vacuuming under the chairs in your private theater, you'll often find spare change generously left by your guests!
26. For the price of going to a movie theater, you can buy one DVD or rent at least two.
27. Finding parking is much easier at home, and you don't have to navigate your family through the variety of "hazards" that frequently hang out in movie theater parking lots.
28. In your own home theater, you can tell people to quiet down without fear of it escalating into a fight.
29. In your own home theater, you can take your shoes off without having to worry that someone else will do the same.
30. You can't rewind in a movie theater if you missed something, didn't understand the dialogue, or simply want to see something again.
31. You can't turn on sub-titles to pick up unintelligible dialogue.
32. Parents who bring their 2 year-old baby to a scary movie and who don't leave when it starts crying during loud and/or scary scenes.
33. The inability to adjust the heat or air conditioning in a public theater.
34. The lack of somewhere convenient to put your coat in a public theater - if you drape it on the seat it's bound to fall on the sticky floor.
35. You don't have to take your wallet or keys to a home theater, so you can't lose them on the floor.
36. The mysterious bubble-gum based substances on the bottom of public theater seats that find their way onto your pant leg.
37. You can't guarantee that your favorite movie-time beverage will be available in a public theater.
38. Someone who sounds like they have Tuberculosis usually sits right behind you, and they never cover their mouth.
39. Public theaters don't calibrate their projectors with ColorFacts.
40. Having to save seats for people who are arriving later, and then constantly fighting off others to try to steal them.
41. One word (usually yelled loudly and then ignored by the kid in the projection booth for at least 5 minutes): FOCUS!
If you have an additional reason why you no longer go to public movie theaters, send it to me and I'll add it!
This is the final part of the three part series :
1. The Big Picture
2. The Specs Explained
3. Shopping Tips
Shopping Tips
Ready to put together a home theater of your own? Here are PC World’s recommendations for displays, DVD players, and speakers.
Go with HD:
Choose a widescreen high-definition TV in the size most appropriate for your room. Only if you’re on a very tight budget or have a very small room should you consider anything else.
Look for HDMI or component video inputs on the TV: These inputs will allow you to connect high-definition and progressive- scan sources and will produce the best possible picture quality. The set should also have composite-video and SVideo inputs for sources such as VCRs and camcorders. And a set of A/V inputs on the set’s front or side will make it easier to hook up a camcorder for viewing home videos.
Opt for progressive scan:
It’s hard to find a current DVD player that doesn’t include progressive scan, which produces a sharper, flicker-free picture. However, the TV you use will need to have component inputs that support the progressive scan signal as well. A high-definition Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD player will provide an even better picture; it also will require a component input—or, better, an HDMI input. Some regular DVD players will upconvert their outputs to pseudo-high-definition resolution, but since this does not actually increase the amount of detail in the picture and duplicates a function built into most TVs that can accept a high-definition input, it is seldom a genuinely useful feature.
Start with three speakers:
If you can’t afford the full surround sound setup, start with the center, left, and right speakers. You can always add the subwoofer later if you miss the extra bass, and you can buy the satellite surround speakers if you want a full surround-sound effect.
Use 100 watts as a guideline: A receiver than can produce 100 watts per channel (RMS, not peak power) will be more than adequate for most home theater systems. Make sure the receiver you buy includes Dolby Digital decoding. Dolly Pro Logic II is highly desirable as well, to provide surround sound from videotapes and from ordinary stereo music sources such as CDs.
This is only a brief outline as to how you can go about setting up your own Home Theater System. Look out for more on this series soon.
Part 1 - The Big Picture | Part 2 - Specs | Part 3 - Shopping tips
This is the second part of the three part series :
1. The Big Picture
2. The Specs Explained
3. Shopping Tips
Part 2 - The Specs Explained
You’ll find a plethora of displays, DVD players, and speakers at any home electronics store. Distinguishing one from another can be difficult.
Here are a couple of questions you should consider before you buy :
How big is the room you want to turn into a home theater?
You don’t want to buy a television that’s too big for the room. Generally speaking, you shouldn’t sit any closer to your TV than twice its screen diagonal; if you have a 40-inch TV, for example, you should be no closer than about 7 feet from the screen.
How much do you want to spend?
Do not look at entry level players if you wish to drive high resolution displays.
To be continued.........
Part 3 - Shopping tips
Part 1 - The Big Picture | Part 2 - Specs | Part 3 - Shopping tips
Movies can provide an immersive experience, as sight and sound blend together to take you to a place far, far away. For years you could get that complete escape only in a cinema, with its huge screen and monstrous speakers. Now, with a home theater, you can enjoy a full-fledged cinematic experience in your living room. This guide, courtesy of PC World India looks at three key components of a home theater system: the display, the DVD player, and the speakers.
This Guide is comprised of three parts :
1. The Big Picture
2. The Specs Explained
3. Shopping Tips
Part 1 - The Big Picture
A home theater can do a remarkable job of mimicking the multiplex experience. DVD players and newer televisions can produce detailed high-resolution pictures, offering realistic portrayals of everything from the largest explosion to the smallest teardrop. And with a high-quality surround- sound speaker system, you’ll almost feel the rotor blades whirring by as you watch a helicopter pass overhead. With the right setup, your living room will become a movie-watching cocoon.
To get the crisp picture, you’ll need a DVD player. DVD video outputs up to 540 horizontal lines of resolution, compared with about 200 lines on the VHS tapes your VCR plays. And you can see the difference, as the higher resolution produces a noticeably smoother and clearer picture. Most major consumer electronics companies, including Philips, Sansung, LG, Onida, Pioneer, and Sony make DVD players. Prices for basic players range from Rs 2,500 to Rs. 6,000, but you can pay a lot more for DVD players with lots of features.
Entry level players are good enough if you will be using them with standard definition televisions. While buying a player look for the audio/ video decoder specifications, as well as the outputs that it can provide. The video decoder in a player should be at least 10-bits, the better players come with 12- to 14-bit decoders Digital to Analog converters(DAC). Also pay attention to the speed at which the video decoder operates— the better ones are rated for 108MHz. The audio decoder should be 24-bit. All DVD players can read music CDs; most can play MP3 music on recordable CDs, and video on one or more of the various recordable DVD formats (such as DVD-R and DVD+R). Some high-end models can also play one or both of the high-resolution, multichannel audio formats, DVD-Audio (DVD-A) and Super Audio CD (SACD). At the top of the heap are players for the new high-definition videodisc formats, Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD, which currently sell for $800 or more; but you’ll need a high-definition television to take full advantage of them..
Picking the Right TV
While you can watch DVD movies on any television, wide-screen TVs work especially well because most DVD movies use the wide-screen format. Wide-screen televisions have a 16:9 (width: height) aspect ratio, which is closer to the shape of theater screens than the 4:3 aspect ratio of normal TVs is. In addition, the 16:9 aspect ratio is standard for high-definition television, which produces much sharper and clearer pictures than does conventional PAL) television. As a result, almost all TVs available today with a diagonal screen measurement greater than 29 inches are wide-screen models, and most (though not all) of them are capable of displaying high-definition images.
For your home theater, you probably don’t want to consider anything other than a wide-screen TV. For the first 50 years of television’s history, essentially all sets used cathode-ray tubes to display the picture. Today, other display technologies dominate at screen sizes larger than 29 inches, and CRT-based TVs will likely disappear from the market within the next decade. TVs appropriate for home theaters now divide into roughly three categories: flatpanel TVs, rear-projection TVs, and front projectors.
Flat-panel TVs are just a few inches thick and can be either wall- or stand-mounted. LCD (liquid crystal display) panels are available in sizes ranging from portable units of a few inches diagonal to wide-screen models measuring as large as 65 inches diagonal. Plasma panels start at about 42 inches, and models measuring more than 100 inches diagonal have been demonstrated. Except for small LCD TVs (usually 20 inches or less), almost all flatpanel TVs are wide-screen models, and most have HDTV inputs and resolutions. Where plasma and LCD screen sizes overlap, the LCDs usually are more expensive, sometimes by a large margin.
Generally speaking, LCDs are more suitable than plasmas for brightly lit rooms, but plasmas typically can produce deeper blacks and truer colors. Rear-projection TVs cast a video image onto the inside of a translucent screen by means of internal mirrors and lenses. Most rear-projection TVs (or RPTVs) available today are wide-screen HDTV designs.
Some budget models still use CRTs to create the projected images, but advanced ones now rely on more compact DLP (digital light projection), LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon), or LCD light engines. Although bulkier than flat-panel TVs, rear-projection sets using these new technologies are usually no more than 16 to 18 inches deep and weigh only about 60 kg. Screen sizes for rear-projection TVs range from about 42 inches to more than 70 inches diagonal.
The Sound of Movies
While the visual element is at the forefront of a movie’s appeal, sound is what really immerses you in the experience. To achieve theater-quality audio, you’ll need more than the speakers built into your TV or the two bookshelf speakers that came with your mini stereo system. A complete surround- sound system from a company such as Definitive, Infinity, Bose, JBL, or B&W includes center, left, and right speakers, as well as two satellite speakers (intended for placement at the sides or somewhat behind the seating area) and a subwoofer for rumbling bass. These six speakers work together with audio formats such as Dolby Digital and DTS. You don’t need all the elements to enjoy a good listening experience, but at a minimum you should have center, left, and right speakers.
Most home theater systems also include an A/V receiver— a box that acts as the hub for all audio input from the various components of the system, decodes surround-sound signals, and amplifies and balances sound before sending it to the speakers. Popular brands include Sony, Yamaha, Onkyo, Pioneer, Marantz and Harman Kardon—with price ranging from Rs. 40,000 and more. As more people decide to set up a home theater, vendors are making the task easier. Many companies now offer “home theater in a box” setups that include a DVD player integrated with a receiver, plus a full set of six speakers.
To be continued......
Part 2 - The specs explained
Part 3 - Shopping tips